lands to put it up at battery townsly which would have been the pinnacle of coastal artillery in world war ii. so, we now have a canon or artillery collection that spans in our park that spans from the civil war to the cold war, including a preserve 19-missile base. some of you also know that during the 1906 earthquake, the army assisted greatly in the response to the city's needs. and the public flocked to the open lands at golden gate park and at the presidio, the open areas that they had there. the army provided tents and food for them during that transition period. all of our planning indicates that that probably would happen again if we had a big one. they probably would be coming to the lands that we now manage. so, what is the park services' connection to all of this? we have our centennial of our organization coming up in 2016

in four years, and we feel what we believe are america's best ideas. it's grand canyon, yosemite, but also stewarding america's history and that would include independence hall, gettysburg, mount rush more, and most recently flight 93. my dress uniform and that famous hat is really derived from the world war i uniform from 1916, little changed from that time. the first rangers that patroled our parks before there was a park service were calvary soldiers. the presidio here in san francisco sent buffalo soldiers up to yosemite and sequoia every summer to control the parks, to keep the poachers out and to begin the construction of roads. the first federal superintendent of sequoia national park was colonel charles young. he happened to be the third african-american to graduate from west point. he went on to become the first black colonel in the army.

amazing story. i believe he'll be honored sometime later this year by some sort of a national monument at his home in ohio. so, pretty interesting fellow and pretty amazing leadership demonstrated. today our rangers across the country perform modern-day public services, often away from municipalities. so, we're the only game in town at yosemite. we perform search and rescue police, emergency services, medical, even corner duties. closer to home, we have urban [speaker not understood] here in san francisco and at the national mall. so, we have a sprat strong cadre of rangers that help in incident managements, presidential visits, americas cup here, most recently helping with the city and the coast guard and even katrina and the gulf war spill most recently. closer to home the golden gate bridge connects not only our park lands but our communities.

since 9/11 it really has connected our law enforcement public safety officials even more seriously and with greater intent as we protect the bridge from any threat. americas cup, the races here have fostered even greater coordination and partnership with the department of emergency management in the city, city fire department, city police department and the coast guard. and we look forward to working with san francisco and our local governments and the military to make our emergency planning even more effective. so, thank you again for your time and we'll see you out in the park. (applause) >> thank you. i learned a lot on that talk i didn't know. that was great. it's now my pleasure to introduce our speaker, keynote speaker for this morning.

but before i do that, i want to recognize his wife. it is an honor for many women who are married to significant dignitaries in our country where they become the sponsors for various ships. and it's a very significant ship that mrs. perry is the sponsor for. she's the sponsor for the u.s.s. cole and i want to welcome you, lee perry, here this morning and thank you for all you've done ad supporting your husband and his marvelous career. thank you, ms. perry. (applause) >> our speaker this morning, the former secretary of defense william perry, i first met when he was the deputy secretary of defense, and he and mrs. perry came to korea where i was the c5j5 and i was assigned to

escort them around. and i had a lot of those kinds of duties while i was assigned to korea. but it was the most pleasant experience i had and i say that honestly, to get to know these two people. and he then became our secretary of defense. and many of us that have served thought that he was one of the best secretary of defenses we've ever had. he's currently a senior fellow at the hoover institute and a freeman foley institute of international studies. he is the michael and barbara bavarian professor at stanford university and serves as co-director of the nuclear risk reduction initiative and preventive defense project. please help me welcome our speaker this morning, former secretary of defense william perry. (applause)

>> what a pleasure it is to be aboard this symbol of america's millery power, the uss macon island. what a pleasure it is to be among the men and women of our armed forces and the men and women of the first responders of the san francisco bay area. fleet week for many years in san francisco was a somewhat

[inaudible] affair and it has been transformed into this great coming together by the military and the first responders, the great coming together of our uniformed personnel and a great [speaker not understood] of san francisco. this amazing transformation in the last few years was due primarily to the vision and the dedication of three people, george and charlotte schultz and mike myers. i'd like to pause to thank all three of them for this work. (applause) >> and in april of 1996, my last year as secretary of defense, i met one morning intelligence briefing at 7 o'clock along with general charlie. the previous day general hughes

had briefed us that the chinese military were to begin extensive military maneuvers in the taiwan strait. this morning we were stunned to learn that they had fired two missiles that landed just 10 miles off the coast of taiwan. the taiwanese had a presidential election underway, and the chinese were using a not too subtle way of explaining to them what they wanted the outcome of that election to be. thises was an unacceptable form of military coercion and both the general and i agreed that a strong response was needed by the united states, something more than a diplomatic letter of protest. after some discussion we agreed to send two carrier battle

groups to taiwan. within an hour the president had approved our recommendation and before the day was over, though carrier battle groups were underway steaming to taiwan. at a press conference the next day, i was asked would i not fear this would lead to military clash with china. i said, i was not concerned of that. and when asked why, i said, i think, well, because we have the best damn navy in the world. this was not an extravagant or hyper bolic statement t. was simply a statement of fact. it was a fact that not only i knew. it was a fact which other nations understood. even one carrier battle group had more military fire power

than any other nation's entire navy, and we had two of them on the way to taiwan. so, i was confident that no one was going to challenge the fleet that we were sending there. this -- and in fact, they did not challenge it even before our two carrier battle ships arrived in taiwan, the crisis was over and the maneuvers had been subsided. this positive result was possible because of the military capability of our navy and because both carrier battle groups were battle ready and able to steam towards their destination in less than 24 hours. so, why were we able to respond so effectively? certainly one important reason, because the technology in our ships was the best in the

world. the results are true, that the training and the spirit of our sailors was superb. and we had absolutely first-class leadership in the navy. you will hear later today from admiral gary some examples of just how impressive that leadership is. the operational readiness of the fleet was a result, first of all, of having bases all around the world. but secondly because the strong program of exercise we conducted. the exercises were not only conducted on military scenarios, but we had an extensive set of exercises involved in humanitarian response.

during the time i was secretary, we had a disaster response very similar to the one they're doing here in san francisco today. we bought naval forces from the united states, from russia and japan all to honolulu where we had simulated a tsunami disaster. and these three great nations brought their fleets to honolulu exercising how to respond and alleviate that disaster. well, that was then. how about now? last year the united states released a new security strategy. most of you probably have not even heard of that, but i have to tell you this was a big deal. it was one of the fifth american security strategies that we have issued since the

civil war. among the highlights of that security strategy was a strong statement that the united states had the highest economic and security interests in the asia pacific region. not in europe as has been for 100 years prior to that, than the asia pacific region. secondly, that we would maintain freedom of access throughout that region. in particular, we would maintain the sea lanes in that area, whatever the challenge might be. even as we reduce our defense budget, therefore we must maintain and would maintain a powerful navy, and that that navy would be charged with maintaining the freedom of those sea lanes.

we had, of course, to be concerned as to whether there would be a challenge for that. we observed that the rise and shine has more energy needs for more energy than they can produce themselves, and to maintain the economic growth which they believe is essential. we observed that the south china sea is a potential source of energy supplies for china and that there is a contention among the nations in that region as to where the ownership and rights of access are to the south china sea. and this is conceivable that china might seek to reestablish its claim there by military coercion and that could lead them into a confrontation with the united states' desire to maintain free access. the best way of avoiding that

military conflict is what we should see because the military conflict with china would be catastrophic for both nations, indeed for the whole region. so, we want to avoid that. i believe the best way of avoiding that is by maintaining a -- continuing to maintain a strong naval presence in the region, and by having an unambiguous commitment to doing that. i believe that our new national security strategy is that unambiguous commitment, and i believe that the u.s. navy is capable of maintaining that unambiguous military strength. as we sit here this morning aboard the uss macon island, in san francisco bay, looking out to the pacific, it is easy to

believe that the united states is, in fact, a pacific power and that to keep it that way we will maintain the best damn navy in the world. thank you very much. (applause)speaker .... >> now i'm going to introduce our next speaker, major general melvin spee splt e i've known melvin for a number of years, obviously we served together in the marine corps. i can tell you he's been with fleet week for 3 years now and the one thing about mel, he's got a lot of ideas and he accepts no as an interim answer because a lot

of things that he wanted to do to make fleet week better originally the answer from authorities was no. and he made some amazing things happen just through his will. a commander can will things to happen. and i really want to thank you, mel, for that whole peer to peer medical exchange was your idea and it was just a huge hit and i thank you so much for that. he's offered to be the pifrplg hitter for admiral roughhead who was captured back in massachusetts and couldn't make it back out here and with his experience, one thing about melvin speese, he is the premiere taipber in the marine corps. please help me welcome

major general melvin speese >> well, of course i am not admiral roughhead, mr. secretary, but i did spend the night at marine's memorial club so i think i'm able to fill in okay. as general my dsz at said, i've had the p opportunity to purpose in fleet week over the last several years. my attention and focus has been, obviously, from the first marine expeditionary forces perspective and our close partnership, the third fleet and expeditionary strike group 3 in supporting fleet week. clearly filling in for admiral roughhead i'm going to have to elevate my comments and move to a little bit different level. the department of defense is very comprehensively represented here at fleet week this year, more so than ever before. we have a

representative from the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and american security affairs in the audience and they were here in august when we did our exercise with the city. fema is well represented and we have several defense coordinating officers here over the past couple of days. certainly the california national guard is represented heavily here. obviously they are going to be the first guys to respond to a disaster and they have several interesting roles not only from a state perspective but as they get federalized or with the dual status commander managing federal response and federal authorities of military authorities flowing in. and most significantly, we're represented today with the commander of northern command, general jackoby. as you know, defense report to

civil authorities is not a primary mission area for the department of defense. we have codified it in policy over the years and certainly things have advanced since 9/11 and hurricane katrina, but there has been a real gap in detailed preplanning for emergency response, particularly as it works its way down the chain into the tactical forces that would respond, most specifically i think those on active duty. this is an area that we don't tend to pay a lot of attention to and very often when it comes we tray to look the other way. i believe that we have been reasonably responsive in immediate response, immediate response by doctrine and policy are military dod authorities moving out their gates into their neighborhoods when a disaster hits right next door. i mean, that seems to make

sense. we have good relationships at our bases and stations and the ability to roll out and assist is something you would expect to work out pretty well. some of that has matured, in fact. in the state of california we have established a number of agreements, most particularly the wildfires where both third fleet and the expeditionary force assign helicopters in the need we are requested, it's pre-planned, our pilots are trained, we have the gary that's necessary and we can respond. most of the things we have done in the past, though, have come on almost random occurrences in the event of a complex catastrophe, so that is a little bit different for us. there has been movement within dod and we have grown and matured certainly our presence in the fema regions has expanded, new capabilities have been delivered to the states,

and we have developed the much more responsive and functional command structure, i believe, with the dual status commander and that's somebody who can bridge national guard and active or federalized forces as they flow into a disaster response. but more recently the secretary of defense has elevated this and defense support to civil authorities has been dregted -- directed into the departments to start developing plans and policies that will adjust how we respond. so we're seeing a directive that will make things more expensive and specific in defense for civil authorities and this is the most significant move in dsca that i have seen in my career. since late november, 2011, comprehensive planning meetings have taken place to analyze the issues surrounding dsca and

have provided a laundry list for recommendations of actions to be taken. the department of defense in the person of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the key principle staff members of the department, and our primary combatant commanders and commanders responsible for civil authority support are now acting on those recommendations in the form of directed tasks. the tasks sound very familiar for those who have participated here in san francisco fleet week over the last several years. the focus is on integrated planning with civil authorities, swift operations and mobilization, utilization of installations, capabilities and personnel, enhanced organizational effectiveness and improved doctrine, education, training and exercises. the directive comes with an already increased attention on

dsca which we have seen the development of courses and training now delivered at multiple professional military education programs and other venues and the maturing of thinking and policies since 9/11 and katrina. there is a recognition within this analysis that there are gaps in awareness of the capabilities dod can provide in complex catastrophes, as well as the inherent complexities and lack of understanding in our various chains of command and our authorities. the report recognizes what we have used to drive the dsca portion of fleet week, that local authorities are likely to be overwhelmed in a complex catastrophe and that the president will direct support to civil authorities. that san francisco fleet week assumption is now stated as a

guiding principle inside the dod for planning and activities. the objective of the dod effort is to enable the effective access to and use of defense capabilities in the event of a disaster. critical to this is a review of authorities, policies and protocols that govern the access to and employment of defense capabilities and that directive is required to be done by september of 2013. included are recommendations that will address specific core capabilities, methods on how to catalog them, changes necessary to facilitate planning and access to those capabilities. this is a significant change in dod's approach, particularly as it considers active forces in a more deliberate manner. the report specifically states to include those capabilities that have had previously a

limited role in supporting civil authorities. i read that from my perspective down at camp pendleton as the active for the. u.s. northern command have been tasked to (inaudible) defense support to civil authority concept plans. with that, there is a recommendation to integrate and synchronize dod planning with federal, regional and state partners, something that san francisco fleet week has energized in the bay area over the past 3 years. the establishment of the dual status commander helps us pull title 10 and title 32 forces together in a more synchronized dod response. the new attention and focus by dod is only part of the puzzle, though. dod success in helping

in response to a disaster will ultimately be determined by civil authorities and their ability to properly plan their initial response and then the means by which dod capabilities are requested and properly employed. we know dod is in support of civil authorities and the real burden to that effective support is going to be sound planning to ensure we're properly directed and we can best benefit or provide benefit to the need of the place where we're supporting. the guidance now being given will drive training and exercises. and recognition of our effectiveness at providing relief for our fellow citizens does require preparation. vice admiral beeman spoke emphatickly of readiness yesterday. readiness is no accident but is a deliberate outcome of focus and hard work. dod is now stepping up to the plate in a very formal and

direct way but this will only work as well as our local state and federal civil authorities partner with us to ensure our capabilities are known, understood and well planned into their responses. well, i thank you for the opportunity to fill in for admiral roughhead. this new mission area that's coming our way i think in a more deliberate form is important to us. i have been a believer in it for years and i think what we are starting it see here in san francisco is a model of how we can approach our ability to spert our fellow citizens. so thank you very much for the chance to speak to you and with that, sir, i open it up to questions. is that right?

(applause). >> okay, sir, we're ready for the panel. >> yeah, if you'll just remain in place, we're going to shift, we'll brin . >> yeah, if you'll just remain in place, we're going to shift, we'll bring the panel up and the person that will be introducing the panel, lewis loeven. i have to tell you, lewis loeven is the person that put all this together. he's worked months for this so i want to thank you publicly, lewis, for this. >> thank you. while the panelists are coming up i'd just like to tell you when general myat and i went down to brief secretary